Illinois Racing Board

The aim is to find a buyer who wants it for a racino A lawyer representing Hawthorne Race Course in the track's Chapter 11 bankruptcy attempt to restructure between $100 and $500 million in debt told the Illinois Racing Board (IRB) on Wednesday that the track's ownership has asked a federal judge for a time extension that, if granted, could accommodate a potential auction of the property by early August. Both Tim Carey, the president of the family-owned Hawthorne, and his bankruptcy attorney, Barry Chatz, underscored during their update to...

After two days of proceedings in a federal bankruptcy court in Chicago Tuesday and Wednesday, judge Timothy Barnes has authorized the release of funds to pay outstanding wages owed to Hawthorne employees and to pay for the necessary equipment to resurface the track in preparation for a Thoroughbred meet, according to Illinois Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association (ITHA) president Chris Block, who attended the hearings. Hawthorne, and its related companies, filed for a Chapter 11 business reorganization Friday. The filing is built around a "debtor in possession" financing mechanism, which is when...

The 2026 Thoroughbred meet at Hawthorne is supposed to start in just over a month. The ominous wall of silence and uncertainty hanging over the track's future, however, is leaving the horsemen and women relying on the meet's go-ahead "extremely worried and concerned," said Illinois Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association (ITHA) president Chris Block on Monday. "We've implored the [Illinois Racing Board] executive director and the chairman [Daniel Beiser] that they get Hawthorne to the table. I'm hopeful that'll happen," said Block, who estimated that there are currently around 175 Thoroughbreds stabled...

These are not easy times for Illinois horsemen, who have already lost Arlington Park and may soon see the area's remaining Thoroughbred track go under. After the Illinois Racing Board, citing financial instability, which included the bouncing of checks, pulled the plug on the track's Standardbred meet in January, there's no telling whether or not a reeling Hawthorne will be able to open its doors when the Thoroughbred meet is supposed to start March 29. Chris Block, the president of the local horsemen's group, is fighting the good fight to...

The extent of Hawthorne Race Course's financial troubles, and with it the enormous ramifications for industry stakeholders in the state, were made glaringly clear during Wednesday's Illinois Racing Board (IRB) meeting. On Monday, the racing board suspended the operating license of Suburban Downs, Inc., which manages Hawthorne's harness meet, for "failure to provide documentation demonstrating its financial integrity, and proof that they can meet the minimum standards" as outlined in state law. According to representatives from the Illinois Harness Horsemen's Association (IHHA) who attended Wednesday's meeting, Hawthorne--which is owned and...

The Illinois Racing Board suspended on Monday the license of Suburban Downs, Inc, which manages Hawthorne Race Course's Harness meet, for "failure to provide documentation demonstrating its financial integrity, and proof that they can meet the minimum standards" as outlined in certain state laws, according to a press release by the board. Monday's action to suspend Suburban Downs's authorization to operate in Illinois follows Board action to cancel January 3-4 races for failure to submit required surety bonds, the press release states. Suburban Downs had been awarded 34 Harness race...

With 2025 drawing to a close and the beleaguered Chicago racing community having gone two months since the last public update from Hawthorne Race Course regarding its long-promised but still unbuilt racino, you'd think the focus of Thursday's Illinois Racing Board (IRB) meeting might have involved some sort of formal request to know where Hawthorne stood on the oft-delayed project that the state legalized back in 2019 and is considered imperative for the future of racing in Illinois. At the IRB's Sept. 18 meeting, Tim Carey, Hawthorne's president and general...

Hawthorne Race Course and three of the track's key racing executives on Nov. 18 asked a federal judge to dismiss the main claims in a lawsuit brought by a former association veterinarian who recently worked the Chicago-area track's Thoroughbred meets. In a Sept. 12, 2024, legal complaint, Dr. Christine Tuma had alleged that her efforts to scratch over 80 lame or injured Thoroughbreds during 2022-23 were met with a purported conspiracy among track employees, other veterinarians, and state regulators to overturn her actions so unsound horses could be entered to...

Thursday's Illinois Racing Board (IRB) meeting, at which 2025 race dates were awarded, yielded almost the exact same headline and summation of how the very same commission meeting unfolded last year: Illinois racing is still struggling to recover from the twin blows of the 2021 closure of Arlington International Racecourse and the inability of the state's two surviving Thoroughbred venues--Hawthorne Race Course and Fairmount Park (AKA FanDuel Sportsbook & Horse Racing)--to follow through with building their proposed racinos that were legalized back in 2019. Yet while last year's IRB annual...

Christine Tuma, who formerly worked as an association veterinarian jointly employed by Hawthorne Race Course and the Illinois Racing Board (IRB), on Thursday filed a federal lawsuit against those two entities claiming her efforts to scratch over 80 lame or injured Thoroughbreds during the 2022 and 2023 race meets were met with an alleged conspiracy to overturn her actions so the unsound horses could be entered in races. The lawsuit further contended that when Tuma reported this alleged conspiracy to state and federal government regulators, she was fired "in retaliation...

Illinois racing is still struggling to recover from the twin blows of the 2021 closure of Arlington International Racecourse and the inability of the state's two surviving Thoroughbred venues--Hawthorne Race Course and FanDuel Sportsbook & Horse Racing--to follow through with building their proposed racinos that were legalized back in 2019. Yet Thursday's Illinois Racing Board (IRB) meeting was conducted with a noticeably welcome tone of cautious optimism, as commissioners unanimously approved 2024 race dates against the backdrop of revamped racino construction schedules at both venues that could mean gaming revenue...

Hawthorne Race Course will swap out Saturdays in favor of Thursdays for the upcoming June-through-Labor Day portion of its season, continuing a schedule switch that the Chicago-area track began with the current spring meet. The Illinois Racing Board (IRB) granted the change with a unanimous vote at its Apr. 20 meeting. Right now Hawthorne is racing on a Thursday-and-Sunday schedule. The changes will go into effect starting May 31, when the meet expands to three days: Wednesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. Post times are 2:30 p.m. Central. Jim Miller, Hawthorne's racing...